Mom wants me to stop mulching when I mow so I don’t drop “weed” seeds. How can I harvest these seeds?

by mistablack2

13 Comments

  1. highaltitudehmsteadr

    The purple are hyacinth and while I don’t know about seeds they are actually bulbs and you can easily dig them up and plant them elsewhere. They’ll come back next year. Dandelions are boss and you don’t need to worry about saving them (you can when they turn to puff balls though)

  2. These are grape hyacinths, a flower, not a weed. They are perennial, so no seeds drop from them. You can dig up the bulbs and relocate them, but I think they look lovely where they are!

  3. Wait until the bulbs are finished flowering then dig up and either plant them along the fence line or concentrate them to an area for a seasonal flower bed. You could also throw in some other bulbs like daffodils and tulips.

  4. MikeoPlus

    Depending where you are (N America?) grape* hyacinth can be pretty invasive. They’re pretty tho!

  5. Puzzleheaded-Ad6262

    Someone planted them intentionally!

  6. itsrooey_

    What you do is break your mower bag on accident so you keep mulching. It’s better for the lawn to do this and will actually help suppress weeds. The grape hyacinth in the lawn is a perennial wild flower and you should leave it. Mowing it shouldn’t harm it. The dandelions are there from a calcium deficiency in the soil most likely and a lack of organic material on the soil surface. That means if you mulch and then overseed with a grass or clover it should move to choke it out but you could remove them as well by adding calcium back into your soil instead of spraying or putting out “weed n feed” which is a short term gain long term loss for the health of your grass. That road will get you stuck in a cycle of never ending weed n feed every year and undermines the strength of the biodiversity in your yard leading to greater food and housing stability for local insect populations leaving the good bugs weak and the nasty bugs will have no natural predators meaning every bug in your yard ends up being MUCH more aggressive. Less really is more.

  7. You don’t. Educate your mom.

    The purple flowers in your yard rarely spread by seed. Additionally, they support pollinators early in the season. Diversity makes for a healthier lawn/meadow/yard. Mulching clipping back into the yard recycles nutrients, which helps the soil ecosystem and reduces the need for fertilizer.

  8. tres-huevos

    Just that first spring flower mow could be ditched, afterwards there aren’t as many seed opportunities.
    This is why it’s kinda important for gardeners/landscapers to clean their mowers, to not contaminate the next clients yard!

  9. glue_object

    Blunt truth: an untended lawn is not a bee haven. It’s a lower bio load in general, unable to support a diversity of life. A monotypic tended lawn is not much better, but it does retain the cover and moisture necessary for movement of species.
    If you want flowers, plant flowers. The whole save the dandelions movement is just how you get ants, with modest pollen sourcing at best for high seed dispersal. It’s also an excuse not to look at the conditions affecting your property; affecting what bioload is even possible.

    All this said, mowing before seed development will not spread seedy mulch. Tossing mulch will inevitably strip ever more of your lawns ability to be a home to fauna and flora alike.

     You can mow now, weed later and make an actual floral bed along the sidewalk or driveway. Hell, you could dig up the hyacinth patch, expand and amend it, and plant the hyacinths wherever of they’re desirable in your area.

     Regardless, you should weed and tend your lawn, then figure out what you’re trying to make it in to. 

  10. JimmyisAwkward

    I planted a few of these in my garden lol.

  11. Richinwalla

    For a meadow I don’t see any weeds. Good job!

  12. bomdiggobom

    Omg ok the purple hyacinth 🪻 can be snipped and made into a really nice simple syrup, also it’s a ph indicator so it turns pink if you put lemon in it! I used it on pancakes this week and it was divine

Write A Comment

Pin